The Republic F-105 is the largest single seat, single engine aircraft and the first supersonic tactical fighter.

The Republic F-105 was conceived in 1951 in a project as a tactical fighter/bomber. The aircraft was produced in single and two seat versions, with F and G designations assigned to the latter.

In Vietnam, beginning in January of 1965, the Republic F-105 was the primary attack fighter of the USAF. It flew 75% of all air strikes against North Vietnam in the first four years it was used during the war.

The Republic F-105 was not built for dogfighting. It was built to deliver a large amount of ordnance while flying at high speeds at low levels. However, the Republic F-105 did achieved some success in air-to-air combat.
The aircraft downed some 25 enemy fighters during the Vietnam War, while losing 17 of the own in air-to-air combat.

The Republic F-105 could hold 7,656 lbs. of fuel within its fuselage. An additional 7,260 lbs. of fuel could be carried in tanks suspended beneath the wings and fuselage.

When not carrying a bomb internally, the Republic F-105 could carry an additional 2,574 lbs of fuel in the space the bomb would occupy.

Republic F-105 aircraft flew for the U.S.A.F. until they were retired in July of 1980. A total of 833 of all types were produced.

Republic F-105 by Steve Manzilla.

Pictured above is the Republic F-105 from a Century Jet Models kit, built by Steve Manzilla.
It has a length of 76" and a wingspan of 44". Steve powers it with an O.S. 91VR-DF engine driving a 5" fan.

In the picture below is the Republic F-105 built by J. Morgan of RC Groups. Length is 52" and wingspan is 32". Power comes from a Himax 2816-1220 motor driving an APC 8 x 6 pusher prop.

The second picture below is a Republic F-105 from Century Jet Models. It is available in both a model D with a 76" length and a model F with a 82" length. Both have a wingspan of 44" with an all up weight of about 16 lbs.

The bottom picture is of the Parkjet plans Republic F-105 designed by J. Forkner. It is a foamy pusher prop with a 25" wingspan that is 48" long with a weight of about 1 1/2 lbs.

Century Jet Models has both a basic kit and a deluxe kit with retracts of the Republic F-105.

Retractable scale landing gear are also available separately from Century Jet Models for their Republic F-105.

Bob Fischer writes: "I really like the Republic F-105 from Century Jet Models. It reminds me of my days during the Vietnam War working to keep Republic F-105 flying.

On March 1, 1965 our Republic F-105 , flying out of Thailand, was part of operation Rolling Thunder. Typical ordnance consisted of six 500 lb. bombs and two 250 lb. bombs.

A lot of people claimed that the campaign did not live up to its name. HQ in Saigon was not in the loop as far as controlling missions. All the calls were made directly from Washington, D.C., many thousands of miles away. For some reason our Republic F-105 aircraft were going up against what appeared to be
random targets rather than working on cutting important enemy lines of transportation.

The Republic F-105 went up against radar directed triple A and SAM's. The pilots were all heroes in my book. The gave as good as they took, and more. Unfortunately many never returned from their missions.

I fly my Republic F-105 just like the real aircraft, making high speed low altitude bombing and strafing runs."